Title :
Functional analyses of whale ears: adaptations for underwater hearing
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Otology & Laryngology, Harvard Med. Sch., Boston, MA, USA
Abstract :
The echolocation ability of several dolphin species is well documented, but little is known about hearing characteristics of most marine mammals. This paper describes the major features of the peripheral auditory system in both large and small whales and presents a three-dimensional morphometric analysis of the inner ear in 12 species. Correlation analyses of inner ear morphometry vs. hearing characteristics in terrestrial and aquatic species for which audiograms are available were applied to dolphin and whale data to derive estimates of hearing ranges of larger, non-captive whales
Keywords :
aquaculture; bioacoustics; ear; hearing; underwater sound; adaptations; aquatic species; audiograms; dolphin species; echolocation ability; hearing characteristics; hearing ranges; inner ear morphometry; marine mammals; noncaptive whales; peripheral auditory system; three-dimensional morphometric analysis; underwater hearing; whale ears; Anatomy; Animals; Auditory system; Computed tomography; Data visualization; Dolphins; Ear; Magnetic resonance imaging; Navigation; Whales;
Conference_Titel :
OCEANS '94. 'Oceans Engineering for Today's Technology and Tomorrow's Preservation.' Proceedings
Conference_Location :
Brest
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-2056-5
DOI :
10.1109/OCEANS.1994.363871
